ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères - Challenging day 2 for U.S. sailors

On the second and final day of the qualifying round at ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères, conditions were light making it challenging for all racing. U.S. sailors advanced to the gold fleet in Women’s 470, 49er, Women’s RS:X and Laser, where fleets are split. Day three will see the fleets start their results total from their cumulative result to date.

• Making a turnaround to his previous day’s performance was Caleb Paine (San Diego, Calif.) in the Finn class where he was black flagged in race 1 and 23rd in the other. His race results of 2-4 put him in ninth overall, and into the gold fleet.
• Annie Haeger (East Troy, Wis.) and Briana Provancha (San Diego, Calif.) are in sixth overall in the Women’s 470 fleet and will race in gold fleet.
• Also qualifying for gold fleet was Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md.), who collected a pair of 11th-place finishes to place 12th overall in Women’s RS:X windsurfing.
• Of the four U.S. skiff teams competing, only Fred Strammer (Nokomis, Fla.) and Zach Brown (San Diego, Calif.) advanced to gold round. The longest racing days have occurred in the 49er class where today’s session clocked in at a little over eight hours due to dying wind. Strammer and Brown scored 6-11-10 to solidify their 23rd overall.

Brown explained that the final race, held in twilight conditions were a challenge, especially in the last race. 'We started off pretty poorly,' he said. 'We got caught tacking a little too much in the middle. We knew we needed to force ourselves back into the race. At the top we did a jibe set and that bought us boats back, and we kept the boat rumbling on the second beat. One tack over and a couple more boats. That gave us enough to pull into the gold fleet. Glad we made it through this trying period and now we’re excited for breeze the rest of the week.'

• Talking about the eight hour day, Pesch said that it was a challenge. 'It takes its toll on the crew work and communication and puts a premium on what we’re doing,' he said. 'Every mistake is costly in this fleet. We try to keep our heads out of the boat and keep chipping away at the progress.' The duo will race in the 49er silver fleet.